For my Sanity Please
by Asphalt Love
Summary: Slight AU Gaara needs a girlfriend and Kankuro has to play matchmaker and find him this perfect girl while keeping to Gaara's ridiculous standards. Strangely enough the list leads to Hinata. The two drive Kankuro insane. Hilarity ensues. Gaahina [ON HIATUS FOR NOW]
1. Gaara plus Hinata equals

What? I'm starting a new story? Well technically this has been in the works for awhile, but I finally decided to put it up. I suppose I'm still not all that comfortable with anything comedic yet... but it's worth a shot. Writing comedy is hard.

And like anything funny, personalities are a bit exaggerated and will be told from all three character's POV sooner or later. For the most part, or at least most of the beginning, Kankuro will be my comedic medium.

And if anyone has any questions about my other fics all I can say is that I'M WORKING ON IT!

On a side note, I have revised this chapter because totally killed the formatting. The breaks were missing and they were supposed to signify a sudden scene change.

Anyway R&R and be kind kay?

A/N: oh yeah the beginning is probably slightly misleading on the whole comedic concept of the story so don't let it stop you from reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Naruto or Naruto the story or anything that is in Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 1 Gaara + Hinata = $#!

"You're already tired?" the critical, deep voice of her father echoed in the empty room, hitting her emotional mentality.

"I-I," Hinata panted, "I-I'm not tired!" she said with force and lunged at her father again, desperately flailing about to no prevail to once again prove to her father that she could not succeed.

That s enough, her father said sternly, clearly disappointed. We ll leave off here, he said, dismissing her.

It was a rather cold fall morning, the leaves in Konoha were a crisp brown and already detaching itself from the tree from whence it birthed. Hinata found herself walking down the familiar dusty path to the training grounds that became her regular routine in the morning. The mental beating her father gave her only moments ago had a harsher aftertaste today than any other she remembered, and all the sighs she could summon through her incapable lungs couldn't relieve the stress that slumbered within. Her footsteps made a short pat-pat-pat sound as she walked. Soon she spotted the familiar straw dummy that bore countless holes from the constant penetrations of ninja kunai.

"They're late," she said to herself, seeing the white fog escape from her lips. She shivered and decided that it was much too frosty that morning to sit around and wait.

Kunai after kunai, she flung them with desperate power at the marked targets. Her Byakugan activated, and her body broken in sweat and strain, she trained for at least an hour before her teammates finally arrived. She usually arrived on time when meeting her teammates, never an hour earlier. Maybe the hope her father had stored for the future of his eldest daughter was slowing draining away. The thought really dampened Hinata's spirits when she realized that maybe like fall's leaves, she would slowly disappear from existence and wither away.

"Hinata-sama!"

Hinata turned to see one of the men from the Hyuuga compound come dashing towards her with great stealth. "Hiashi-dono wishes to speak to you."

* * *

Meanwhile...

"I think I need a girlfriend."

Kankuro stopped in the middle of his steps as his eyes twitched painfully, his gaze slowly rising to look at his younger brother. His hearing must've been distorted for he swore that THE Gaara just admitted to the desires of teenage adolescence. Gaara sat at his desk, his head resting lazily on the palm of his hand looking extremely irritated and bored at the same time.

"Excuse me?" Kankuro asked, stammering a bit. Kankuro had just finished stacking a bundle of the villager's complaint files on Gaara's desk and wished to leave peacefully to breakfast but one line from Gaara's mouth had completely destroyed any hopes of relaxing and a satisfied stomach.

Gaara stared at him for a moment, possibly debating inside his little sick and twisted head as to whether to bother repeating his previous statement. After an excruciatingly long silence, he finally decided to speak, "You didn't hear me wrong."

" " Kankuro stood there, frozen under the terrible gaze of his younger sibling. "Uh " he had to say SOMETHING, it was expected, "Why?" he asked rather stupidly. Of course any normal teenager would want a girlfriend, that was as obvious as Gaara s hair was the same red as the devil himself, but Gaara was not a rather normal teenager therefore Kankuro was stunned.

"A couple of reasons," Gaara replied, sighing a bit, "The elders have been complaining," Gaara began massaging his temples with his right hand. "They think I look too cold, can you believe that?"

Kankuro just shrugged, he wasn't sure whether Gaara was joking or not. Though, it was rather unlikely that Gaara would actually crack a joke, but it could still be some sort of trap so Kankuro decided it would be safest to remain silent on the matter.

"They think a girl is going to make me look more trusting," Gaara added, giving another sigh, this one weighing a bit more than the last.

Kankuro knew too well that Gaara did not reserve sexist remarks towards women, for the two knew quite well of Temari's wrath, but Gaara was not one to mingle with females. Kankuro understood very well the elder's complaints and although Gaara's popularity was growing, it was still not enough to outdo the expectations their father had set.

"The elders are senile, no need to pay attention to what they say," Kankuro assured him, not really because that was what he thought, but because if Gaara was put into this mind state, it was bound to lead to some unfortunate trouble.

"I wasn't finished," Gaara said, shooting his older brother a menacing glare. Suddenly his face softened to the point where he actually looked like the desired image of the younger brother that Kankuro had always wanted. "Actually I think it might be nice."

If sirens sat at the top of Kankuro's head, the room would've been filled with flashing red lights and annoying, screechy wailing sounds for something did not add up in his head. Kankuro quickly glanced at the thermometer just to make sure that hell hadn t frozen over just yet. Gaara wanted a girlfriend, the sheer lunacy of that statement sent chills and shivers down his spine.

Finally after a minute or so Kankuro finally managed to reply with, "I-I see-and how d-did you want to go-about this?" Kankuro was silently praying with all his might to the Puppeteer above that Gaara was not going to ask him to find him the yin to his yang because that was going to be very, _very_ difficult.

"Here are the requirements, Gaara concluded, throwing him an actual list.

The great Puppeteer above did not answer his prayers. Kankuro stared disbelievingly at the list as Gaara assigned him a measly week to find this miracle girl. This soft-hearted yet firm, respectful yet respected, timid yet bold, submissive yet intelligent, cute yet plain girl that is not allowed to come from the Wind Country is the one Kankuro was assigned to find.

Kankuro mused that he could probably just make Gaara a girlfriend yet that would be somewhat insulting so he decided the idea shouldn't ever be mentioned.

* * *

Hinata stared nervously at who she recognized immediately as the puppet-user from the Hidden Sand Village; Kankuro, the one who had that demonic younger brother and the merciless older sister. She held her breath as she waited for her father to deliver the news, but from the looks of it, he seemed somewhat pleased but she could never be sure.

"Please," Hiashi said to the guest. The guy with the painted face nodded.

"You've been officially chosen to be the Kazekage's partner," the man with paint on his face told her.

The first thought that came to her mind was "partner"

Partner.

Other half.

Girlfriend?

She just gaped back in utter speechlessness. "Excuse me?" she said uncomfortably.

"It means that the Kazekage has chosen you, Hinata," her father said.

"Me?" she squeaked.

"Er- well-yes," Kankurou said.

"I-I don't quite understand " she replied.

"You'll be escorted to meet with the Kazekage personally to discuss this matter further. You have a few hours to cancel any appointments you have and pack anything essential."

Kankurou glanced uneasily at the petite Hyuuga girl. She did fit the description but something still didn't quite balance out. She leaned a bit too much to the submissive side, was way too soft to handle the jagged boulder he had as a little brother. She would break faster than a demolition ball hitting jello. However, there was a bright side to all of this, well at least Kankuro tried very hard to find that light at the end of the tunnel. All he could say was that... at least it was going to be sort of amusing... maybe... perhaps... most likely catastrophic and an event that could lead to years of shame and violence that will befall him if he fails to find the right girl. He tried to shake these morbid thoughts away as he waited for the small bunny of a girl to prepare for her eccentrically dark new boyfriend. Well... at least they were both a bit eccentric.

Well maybe she wasn't that small, she did have some curves on her. Well more than the usual 15 year old. At least Gaara won't complain that Kankuro brought him a flat-chested tomboy. However, she was rather pale and she was going to be out in the desert. On the journey back he would have to teach her how to apply on sunscreen correctly.

"Okay I'm ready!" she squeaked, appearing from her room.

Kankuro almost fell to his knees in despair to plead to the great God to spare him of his cruel and unusual punishment! The girl was absolutely ridiculous looking. She wore a coat that was two sizes too big, she had a bag full of CLOTHES, and she was wearing a childish bucket-hat (probably to protect her from the sun) and the most uneasy look on her face. He swore that if he poked her she would break down bawling.

"You have... clothes?" he said.

"Yeah, I packed extra," she replied, quite satisfied with her answer.

Silence ensued. He really had no idea where to start with this girl.

"Why?" he asked, finally.

"Um..."

"Leave the clothes and go repack. You are going to live in a desert, you don't _need_ clothes. Besides, I doubt those clothes are hardly suitable for the humid climate. And... for your repacking I suggest you pack something that you can keep quite close to you that could possibly give you hope and comfort at the end of the day because you are going to need _lots_ of it," he said pinching his sinuses as the girl went scrambling off to repack. This girl was so hopeless and made him so stressed that ruining his make-up was the least of his worries, and that was saying something because he was usually very anal about his make-up. It was one of the few things in his life that he was actually proud of.

* * *

Hinata couldn't believe what was happening. She wasn't supposed to go off and become Gaara's girlfriend! Not that she had much hope in training enough to become a Jounin... well at least that achievement was not something that would come with haste. However, the absolute hilarity of the situation she was in made her wonder if this was some strange trick that someone was playing on her. But after almost meeting heat stroke and getting quite acquainted with dehydration from crossing the desert, she decided that perhaps she was just incredibly unlucky. She wasn't expecting her tiny existence to be so important that actual people were willing to take time out of their busy lives to play a trick on little old her.

Then there was also the question as to why she was chosen to become Gaara's girlfriend. She wanted to ask his older brother but the sighs and glares and utter annoyance that was emitted from his aura kept her from questioning him further about the situation at hand.

She was forced to repack and now she didn't bring an extra change in clothes; well she supposed it didn't matter since she would probably buy new clothes once she reached the village that were more suitable for the weather, but she still felt uncomfortable without them. If she was going to live in a hot place, did that meant she had to show skin? Just thinking about it made her want to crawl under a rock and waste away.

Hinata had always been a rather odd girl. She was a ninja, but she was as graceful as a bird blind in one eye and she would just as soon end her own life before she ended that of something as inconsequential as a fly. She believed she was a normal girl, but she didn't have a crush on the village heart throb Uchiha Sasuke, but instead was attracted to the village's outcast weirdo Uzumaki Naruto. And she wasn't particularly physically attracted to him or anything, in fact she was attracted to him because of his loud and stubborn ways that borderline on bravery to utter stupidity and ignorance. The mere fact that he probably had no idea as to what he was doing but accomplished it anyway made her fall head over heels for the boy. She also greatly admired his unexplainable passion for the things he believed in. They both lived in oppressed environments but Naruto came out on top and she came out rather short-handed.

But none of that mattered now because she was being sold by her family to the Sand village. Perhaps it was for some peace treaty or some alliance but she could only hope that, since this was the last thing she would do for her family that she could be of at least some use before they cast her away. At least they won't look back and say that Hinata was a good-for-nothing who just wasted away being the worthless human being she was. Well, not that she thought she was entirely useless, it's just that her outlook on life was a bit dim when she was in situations like the one she was in now.

As they arrived to the village there were some onlookers who overhead what was going on who were quite interested in the future prospect. It was mainly the guys from accounting and the elders who have nothing better to do than gossip.

"Don't look retarded," Kankuro muttered to Hinata. She gave a rather dejected look, that wasn't very respectful to the mentally and physical disabled. And how would one NOT look retarded, that remark was so insulting that a grimace held her face till they reached the building much to Kankuro's displeasure. He had specifically told her not to look retarded but there she went, right on ahead with a bulldozer.

Kankuro quickly escorted Hinata up the stairs to Gaara's office. As he entered the coolness never failed to send chills down his spine. Well, it wasn't the cold as much as it was the fact that there was nothing scientifically plausible that could keep the room that cold in the desert.

"Uh... Gaara," Kankuro said, quietly clearing his throat.

Gaara looked up, very peeved indeed as if Kankuro was interrupting him. Sometimes Kankuro thought that Gaara pretended to forget about things he had previously asked Kankuro to do just so he would have another excuse to seem pissed off at the world.

"What?" he asked, his voice laced with poison.

"I have found a girl," he said. He presented Hinata, first introducing her name, age, ninja rank, family background and some general information and a few scattered things about her hobbies and interests. After he finished reading off the paper he looked up only to see a very sour look on Gaara's face.

"It was the best I could do," he added quickly. Gaara sighed very heavily and looked at the both of them with a very lazy expression.

"I suppose she'll have to do," he said rolling his eyes a bit. Half of Kankuro, the one that feared for his life and safety, cried mental tears of joy for bringing a satisfactory girl and the other half, as Gaara s older brother, wanted to pound him in for making him run such stupid errands only to be badmouthed about it.

Well on the bright side, Hinata was the only girl in the world who could probably take Gaara's verbal abuse and withstand the disgusted and weary look he had painted with permanent marker on his face. It was a good thing that the Hyuuga clan was very traditional in the woman and men gender roles or else this would not work out.

Kankuro left the room with a prayer in his heart that this would all work out, for his sake of course. The last thing Kankuro wanted to be was in a ditch like the ex-Kazekage for pissing off the wrong psychotic emo. And maybe he was hoping that his younger brother would find happiness... but that was mainly for his sake also. Gaara + Happy = Kankuro's Safety. He left the room practically holding himself from fear. Was he really going to leave such a helpless and pitiful girl with GAARA? Well not that it was any of Kankuro's business what happened between the two behind closed doors, he could care less in all honesty. Well his job was done so there was no point in worrying about it or at least he HOPED that his job was done.

Kankuro, half way down the hallway heard a painfully loud breaking sound coming from Gaara's office. Kankuro halted, "Just great " he muttered to himself as he did a 180 degree turn and headed right back around to see what was going wrong _now_. Oh, except _everything_ of course.

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Short and Sweet. How was it? Well review if you want. (I do love reviews)


	2. Pleading for your Life

A/N: Hey guys. I hope you guys are enjoying the story. Well as you can probably tell, I'm a rather slow updater because of my lack of motivation... Anyways here's chapter 2. As always, I find this story a bit difficult to write because it has to be "funny". Well, okay, don't let me keep you from reading any longer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, in fact I don't own much at all...

* * *

Chapter 2 Pleading for your Life

Kankuro gaped in awe. In a mere three seconds the bunny girl managed to create a chain reaction of utter disaster. Hinata, who had felt very intimidated accidentally backed up onto the water cooler in which she fell over tipping all the water flooding the whole room. If that wasn't bad enough, Hinata had tried to grab on to the table that was next to the water cooler only to end up breaking one of the table's legs which sent the small bonsai tree that Gaara made sure Kankuro had kept in shape for his viewing pleasure across the room. The pitiful tree now laid on the flooded floor while trying to keep it's pitiful broken branches together.

Kankuro resisted the incredible urge to laugh. After all, it was a pretty funny scene Unfortunately, Kankuro also wanted to cry. So what's a guy like him to do? Kankuro could think of a few options: A) Rip his hair out B) Scream at the top of his lungs C) Run for his life

Maybe all three at once, but unfortunately he had to go with plan D, get on his knees and grovel and beg for mercy with the idiotic bunny girl.

"Sorry!" the bunny girl squeaked as she quickly dropped onto her knees and practically slammed her forehead to the floor in apology. Kankuro too, quickly fell to his knees with his hands clasped together.

"This isn't what she's always like! I swear! One time incident, she was just nervous!" Kankuro pleaded.

Gaara just stood there motionless staring at the both of them. Both of them stayed still until Hinata suddenly decided to make an attempt at fixing the water cooler. Kankuro watched her out of the corner of his eyes as she placed the water cooler upright. Afterwards she tried to put the bonsai tree together much to Kankuro's shock and dismay. There she was, kneeling in the large puddle of water while attempting to jam the tree branches together as if pressing broken things together with only hope as adhesive would actually help. Kankuro wanted to drop his mouth in disbelief but knew it would be unwise to make any sudden movements while Gaara was still in the grace period before all hell broke loose.

"What are you doing?" Gaara asked in a very irritated fashion.

"SORRY!" she squeaked again, still wishing for miracles as she kept pushing the broken branch back onto the bonsai tree.

"You, cut it out!" Kankuro snapped. She stopped abruptly. "There are people to take care of those things!" Kankuro hissed through his clenched teeth. Of course he didn't actually mean servants, he meant himself… sadly... tragic really...

"Kankuro," Gaara's chilly voice echoed through the room like an icy wind, "before you take care of everything show Hinata to her room so she can change her clothes," Gaara said, much to Kankuro's surprise. Usually Gaara's ways of dealing with mistakes were… well Kankuro didn't quite know because most people didn't make mistakes when Gaara's around. The last time someone made a mistake in front of him, well… he's not around anymore and no one was there to tell the tale of what actually happened.

"Follow me," Kankuro said as he got onto his feet.

So Kankuro took the bunny girl out of the Sand Village's Center across the town to the Sand Sibling's home. Their house was, like most of the other houses a modern spherical dome-like design of a mansion. The interior was not quite as impressive as the display of architectural genius that was the exterior. Gaara had it re-decorated after their father died. It seemed that some time after that eventful day he completely changed his lifestyle. Gaara no longer wanted lavish things and would rather live like a monk in the mountains. The inside was more bare than the desert itself save for a few pieces of furniture, and even then, the furniture wasn't very comfortable. However, Temari who had an upper floor all to herself did not share the same attitude on life as Gaara. She was the epitome of the Material Girl. She lined her floor with marbles and everything else in gold. Kankuro of course, practically being Gaara's slave or for a more politically correct term, his personal assistant, had to adjust to his bare-minimal lifestyle.

"So… this is your room," Kankuro said, somewhere on the second floor. Honestly, if there were no windows, Kankuro wouldn't be able to tell which floor he was on, since every floor looked the same, save Temari's.

The room of course had the bare essentials. A bed, a desk with a chair, a drawer and on the side was a closet. Kankuro studied the girl, she didn't seem disappointed or happy. Her facial expression told him that she had probably expected such a room.

"Just so you know," Kankuro said with a grimace, not believing that he was going to pass on this information. "Gaara told me that if you need anything for your room, to go up to the fourth floor and ask Temari," he said. If she ever went up to that floor she might as well ask for a casket while she was at it because Temari would never let go of her things, not that Temari would give her a casket anyway.

"Um… I think this is fine," she said quickly.

"Alright, just ask if you have any questions," he said warily. "Also beware of the newspaper boy, he has the hands of a pervert," he added suddenly remembering the incident where he was nearly beaten half to death by Temari. Of course in an actual pervert's head:

A Smack on the head means try again later.

Being beaten half to death meant an occassional grope once in a while

But knowing the tiny bunny girl she would probably just squeak and cry which translated to "Rape me and abuse me!" in pervert language.

"Eh?" she said sounding scared.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but he can't be fired because he's one of the elders' prized son," he said sighing. "Oh while on that subject, try not to get close to any of the elders either, they're all wolves in disguise as old wrinkly sheep," he warned her.

"Thanks for the warning!" she said with utter gratefulness oozing out of every syllable.

"You're welcome," he muttered and left to go clean up after her mess.

* * *

Hinata stared gloomily at her room, it was neat and clean which made her happy but she missed her own room. She grabbed her bags and opened it taking out her framed photographs. She quickly placed them on the drawers, making sure the one with Naruto in it was the closest one to her bed. She smiled sadly at the blonde boy. The thought of not knowing the next time she would see him nearly made her break out into tears, but she decided she would be strong, if not for herself, for Naruto.

However, the thought made her even more depressed. She was going to be strong for someone who didn't particularly care if she was being strong or not. Naruto barely knew she existed and would probably sooner date her cousin Neji than herself. She sighed very audibly, there certainly wasn't much to live for anymore.

She gazed out the window near her bed, even the nights were gloomy thanks the sandy winds blocking the sky. She looked back at her room, even though she was practically sold to the Sand village and no one cared enough to stop it from happening, at least… her room was neat and clean.

She sat on her bed wondering what Gaara was like as she hugged her legs to her to keep warm. Kankuro had told her that though the days were blazing hot, the nights were freezing. She didn't know much about him except that he used to be a violent and emotionless serial killer who didn't care about anyone but himself. However, she had also heard that Gaara had changed for the better thanks to Naruto. She smiled to herself, that was Naruto for you, turning impossibilities to possibilities. Then she thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad, at least they both liked Naruto in case they had nothing else in common.

Suddenly there was a small knocking on her door. She jumped, surprised.

"Uh… come in," she said.

The door slowly opened itself and there stood Gaara with a look that can only be described as utter dislike. Her whole body froze over in fear. "Yes…?" she asked timidly.

He averted his eyes and stared with impending doom at the ground. "Breakfast is served from seven to nine so don't oversleep," he said, still looking at the floor. "And…"

Silence…

"And…" she said after she felt that the silence had dragged on long enough. She was a nervous wreck as she waited for the next syllable.

"Good night," he said and quickly slammed the door.

She blinked a few times, not quite registering what happened. He said goodnight and then slammed the door, why would he do that? She was confused but decided that it would be rude to not return the favor and ran to the door and opened it and squeaked her goodnight. However all there was, was the empty and dark hallway.

* * *

Kankuro chewed bitterly on some bread. Very bitterly. He had spent all of last night absorbing the water on the floor with one towel, rinsing the water outside the window and continued the same steps for two hours. After that he had to run the bonsai tree all the way down to the greenhouse to get one of the ninjas there to heal it. Of course it was already exceptionally late at night and he was scolded for half an hour before he could actually get the stupid tree fixed. After it was fixed he presented it back to Gaara who glared at him as he told him that he had already bought a new tree. Now that cursed once-broken bonsai tree sat in his room, mocking him.

As he finished his breakfast the bunny girl came in to have hers. He mumbled "Good morning," and she said it back.

"Um… where is Gaara?" she asked.

"Training," he said. "He doesn't come back till noon," he said. "Why?"

"I needed to tell him something," she said.

"Well I'll be going all the way out in the desert to deliver him his breakfast," he said, trying not sound agitated, "So I can pass on the message."

"Um… okay, can you tell him good night and good morning for me?" she said.

He gawked at her, his eye twitching like Gaara's, one of the only ways you could tell they were siblings.

"What?" he asked.

"Um never mind!" she squeaked after seeing the expression on his face. "It's nothing, don't let me get in your way," she said looking at the floor. She looked ready to crawl under the table to die.

"Why don't you tell it to him yourself? This will be a good time to familiarize yourself with the place," Kankuro said, not because he was actually doing her a favor but because he wanted to save himself from looking like a complete retard when he delivers such a strange message. A normal person would just laugh, but Gaara, was in fact, a overly theatrical about everything and would probably carry some sort of strange and unusual grudge for no particular reason and make his life even more miserable than it already was .

"Really? I can come?" she asked in utter surprise and a hint of delight.

"Yeah sure," Kankuro said with a defeated sigh. Maybe letting her go with him wouldn't actually go as smoothly as he had planned. "But you have to carry the food," he said. Well at least if he was going down he'll try to go down comfortably all the while dragging the bunny girl down with him.

"Okay!" she chirped.

Hinata bore a curiosity about the Kazekage. She couldn't decide whether he had become a nice and decent person or that he still held a wickedness in his personality. The way Kankuro dragged about in complete dismay made it seem like Gaara was running a slave plantation, but the other night he seemed so shy and boyish that it almost made her heart flutter.

Almost.

She refused to actually be taken so easily by someone she had just met. Her love for Naruto was not so fickle that as soon as someone acknowledges her she would be willing to jump into their arms. She had heard many stories of slave traders in the black market who would take advantage of stupid girls with sweet words only to be sold off as some old man's bunny toy.

Not that she thought Gaara was, on the inside, and old man who bought her to be his bunny toy. Though he did practically buy her and Kankuro did call her the "bunny girl" whenever he was muttering to himself…

Hinata shook the thoughts from her head. It is bad to doubt and assume things about other people. She sighed to herself as she took the food that was wrapped neatly in a clean red cloth.

"Don't die from heatstroke," Kankuro told her. She immediately recalled almost passing out when she first arrived at the Sand village and flushed in embarrassment.

They trekked across the desert. It was hardly what you would call heatstroke weather. The sun peeked behind the horizon and the air was still cool and chilly. She could smell the Miso Soup between her arms, the smell was so nostalgic. She remembered she would have some every morning for breakfast. She would sit in silence by herself, staring out the window with only a warm bowl of Miso Soup to comfort her. Sometimes her younger sister would eat with her and once, just once, she ate with Neji. Neji didn't live in the same area of the Hyuuga estate that she did so she rarely saw him at home.

However very quickly, Hinata regretted her assumption that it was not going to be heatstroke weather. In the desert the sun rose quickly and the cool weather did not last for very long. After trekking for an hour through the desert she could feel the heatstroke chasing her, especially since she was slower thanks to the fact that she was not used to moving efficiently on sand and Kankuro had to constantly wait for her and slow down. He even offered to carry the food after half an hour because of how slow she was. By the time they had reached the part where Gaara stationed himself the sun was already blazing and Hinata could hear the sand cracking under the heat.

Gaara had the look of eternal annoyance on his face. "Kankuro, I told you I wanted my breakfast before the sun crossed the horizon," he said, his tone dripping of a deadly poison.

"I'm truly sorry but Hinata wanted to come along and she's not used to crossing the desert and-"

"Are you an idiot?" Gaara hissed.

"I'm sorry!" Hinata cried. "I was the-"

"Not you!" Gaara said coldly, Hinata mouth immediately clamped shut. "Kankuro! It's one thing to have her follow you out here but what exactly was going through your head when you forced her to carry my breakfast? You knew she's not used to the terrain or the sun. What is she, your slave?" he asked angrily. There was only one word that could accurately describe this situation: irony.

Hinata held the food timidly closer to her. Gaara was defending her? But as happy as she was to hear words that weren't mentally beating her self-esteem she felt guilty that Kankuro took all the blame, especially when it was she who decided to carry the food and burdened him by having him take her across the desert in the first place to deliver a few words to Gaara.

"No it's my fault," she said quietly. "Please don't be mad at Kankuro-san. The food is here, at least, right?" she said with doubt and uncertainty lingering in her voice.

Gaara remained quiet, digesting her words thoughtfully and finally, in one sudden movement Gaara plopped his behind down onto the sand and he held his hand out to take the food. A hush blew through the desert as Kankuro and Hinata stared in complete awe at him. She never knew that someone like Gaara could "plop" nor could she believe that something as simple as that expectant expression on his face could be so utterly adorable and cute, especially coming from a once unstable and violent serial killer. The fact that he even had his arm extended and his hand out for the food and that look of innocent wonder in his green eyes made him seem like a small and fluffy puppy.

Of course the picture would've been absolutely perfect if Gaara had not open his mouth.

"Hurry up I'm hungry!" he spat those words like bullets from hell.

"Uh… yes!" Hinata said quickly as she placed the food on the ground in front of him.

It was interesting to say, none the least, watching Gaara eat. For a moment, Hinata felt silly thinking that Gaara did not need to eat as if he was some other worldly immortal being. In the end, the red-haired devil was merely just a human and with that in mind, her situation brightened and she thought that perhaps, this wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

R&R - Reviews are quite motivating... just saying *winkwink*

My ramblings:

I wonder if there were any spelling mistakes, I know there were grammar ones. I hate that, when I reread my own stuff I see such blatant spelling mistakes and misplaced words and I just want to die in horror. Anyways please look forward to the next chapter, because I'm such a lame updater I didn't want to end with a cliffhanger so yay.

I also noticed that the story is rated T but there are no juicy tidbits! I will have to work on that won't I?


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